Simple oversight kills two

A special report from the Air Safety Institute reveals how something as simple as not completing a checklist can result in a fatal accident. The report analyzes a 2009 accident of a Siai-Marchetti SF-260, which lost power on initial climb-out from Santa Monica, Calif., killing the 1,600-hour pilot and his passenger. The report by By David Jack Kenny concludes: “Whether the pilot never ran the checklist, got distracted and missed a step, or decided he was qualified to improvise doesn’t matter in the end. What’s clear is that the checklist was never accomplished. As a result, the pilot missed an essential step of the preflight procedure and tried to take off without connecting the engine to a tank that would deliver fuel. The final cost of that single, simple oversight was two lives.”

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